Guys,
I am looking for insight on the boat and RV storage business. I don't expect anyone to build a paved road for me, just looking for information from the more experienced guys. Im 29 years old with a fairly decent income and would like to start investing properly now rather than later. I am located north of Houston and as everyone knows the price of property is through the roof making it extremely difficult. My question is, as I look for property what is your recommendation of acreage required? I have tried to shoot for 7 acres or so allowing me to install a retention pond to satisfy the county but thats not easy to find in my area or even outside of the area of congestion for that matter. My grandfather was in storage years ago and did good with it but he has since passed away and that is no longer in the family. During his time enclosed storage went for about 70 bucks a month which is the going price for open storage in my area. Second question I have is what would you consider a sufficient amount of money required for start up after owning the property? Just trying to find a way to make a second income to allow me to be home with the family more and traveling for work less. if you guys have any insight i would greatly appreciate it.

Getting into the storage business right off the bat will require some $$$. It's a good long term investment, but it takes a pretty big chunk of cash upfront to get it started -- purchase of the land, build out, etc. Not sure how much $$$ you have, but it will take a bunch.

Single family rentals, however, can be purchased with little to zero out of pocket - which equates to big returns. You can build a portfolio to sell off in a few years and use that $$$ to roll into something bigger if you like.

Texas Game I appreciate your response. I agree the start up cost up front is extremely high and out of my budget but that is a goal of mine for the future and just have to figure the ways to get their lol. I built my first house (small one bedroom) and paid cash for it on one acre. I have recently purchased a little bit larger house allowing for me and my family to expand out a little bit. My plan at this point is to rent out the smaller house and use the funds on that to double my current mortgage so I can get rid of this house note. Then maybe in the future if needed for investment sell this house to move into something else. My biggest issue with this house is that i built this house and out did myself on everything so i kind of has sentimental value to me lol.

As for the single family rentals, I have looked just have trouble making moves. My wife tells me i will never get anywhere because I get nervous when it comes time to make the move lol. I will take the info you provided me with and do a bit more research doing the "crawl before you walk" method.

Yes, you definitely have to make the jump if you're going to do anything. And you WILL fail, make bad decisions, pay too much, etc. That's all part of it. I've been full time real estate investor since 2005 and I still make mistakes - lose some $$ on a deal, pay too much, go over budget on the rehab. If you're doing volume it happens. If you talk to anyone in real estate who says they never lose money or make mistakes, run! Happens to everyone. The gains far outweigh the losses though! Especially with rentals, hard to mess those up. Starting off you could easily pick up 5-10 the first year. Hold those for 3-4 years while they appreciate and then sell them. That should get you around 250K profit MINIMUM to roll into something bigger if you like....or more single family rentals. Actually an easy process for people who can pull the trigger, not so much for the over analyzers!! lol......called analysis paralysis!

LOL excellent point. Yes, I make a pretty good living for myself at my age or so I think I do and feel its time to make some decisions and pull the trigger on something. I consider those mistakes as education that you cannot buy. I appreciate your input and information bud.

Just do it. I regret selling and not renting out my first house. But it did allow us to buy a nicer 2nd house. Now at 29 im on my 3rd house. I keep rolling the profit into new homes after the wife and I fix them up a little.

I said at 27 i want to have at least one rental by the age of 30. I can remember the conversation i was having in my garage with a buddy like it was yesterday, but Ill be 30 on Monday. Time fly's. I dont regret having a nicer house for my wife and kids right now, but i need to start thinking about the future.

I have no experience to give you, but i do have experience on not going for it. So only advice i can give is go for it.

Just do it. I regret selling and not renting out my first house. But it did allow us to buy a nicer 2nd house. Now at 29 im on my 3rd house. I keep rolling the profit into new homes after the wife and I fix them up a little.

I said at 27 i want to have at least one rental by the age of 30. I can remember the conversation i was having in my garage with a buddy like it was yesterday, but Ill be 30 on Monday. Time fly's. I dont regret having a nicer house for my wife and kids right now, but i need to start thinking about the future.

I have no experience to give you, but i do have experience on not going for it. So only advice i can give is go for it.

Amen! Thats pretty much where I'm at right now man. I have to travel for work and with my income being the only income for my family, i have to travel and be away from my wife and kids. So the goal here is to allow me to spend more time at home with the family and still be able to make the money i do now.

My experience is there are a couple of ways to do it. First is to buy a relatively cheap property that you develop in to a storage facility with very little expectation of land value growth. It will likely grow in value, but that is not your primary reason. you make the money from the rental business.

The second is you buy a piece of land that you expect to make a large jump in value in the future. The land will likely cost more up front and the tax burden will be higher. You build out and operate the storage primarily to cover cost until your land value matures.